FIBRES 523 



useful with aus paddy as with. jute. Both crops are sown 

 at a time before the land has become sodden with 

 moisture, so that if there is a fine spell after rain the 

 surface of the soil tends to harden, forming a papri, 

 with the result that the growth of the young plants is 

 retarded. The action of the bamboo rake is threefold. 

 Firstly, it tends to keep the surface of the soil loose. 

 Secondly, when used at this stage it frees the land from 

 young weeds which are just coming up. Thirdly, it also, 

 of course, takes out a considerable number of young jute 

 plants. There is a little doubt that cultivators who are 

 in the habit of using the rake purposely sow rather more 

 seed than is necessary, so that they can afterwards afford 

 to lose a considerable number of jute plants in getting 

 rid of all weeds by repeated raking. In this way raking 

 greatly eases the subsequent weeding and thinning opera- 

 tions, which are about the most expensive items in the 

 cost of jute cultivation. When large areas of jute and 

 of aus paddy require weeding and thinning within a 

 particularly short space of time, as happens in some years 

 when the weather has not been quite favourable, it is 

 quite common for men labourers to receive from As. 12 

 to Re. i a day, and boys As. 8 to As. 12, according 

 to their size. With such prices the cost of weeding, if 

 it has to be paid for entirely in cash, may approach 

 Rs. 20 per acre. Of course, there are very few, if any, 

 cultivators who would have to pay so much, and, as a 

 rule, by helping each other, the greater part of the labour 

 is carried through without any actual circulation of cash. 

 This is one of the reasons why Government Experimental 

 Farms, which have to pay maximum prices for all labour, 

 are often unable to produce a balance sheet which would 

 indicate to cultivators the nature of the profit to be made 

 on the cultivation of a particular crop. 



After the weeding and thinning operations there is 

 nothing to be done until the crop is ready to cut, which 

 is well after the commencement of the monsoon. In the 

 interval, on low-lying tracts, the land, partly owing to 

 heavy rainfall, but chiefly, as a rule, to rise of the rivers, 

 becomes submerged to a greater or less depth, and it is 

 not at all uncommon to see men cutting jute standing in 

 water which is waist deep. Some jute is cut very youn.q, 



